Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, is asked if there was guidance from the White House to Cabinet secretaries including Clinton not to use private email accounts. “Yes, there were. Yeah, absolutely. […] Obviously, we want to make sure that we preserve all government records, and so there was guidance given that government business should be done on government emails and that if you did use a private email that it should be turned over.” (C-SPAN, 9/30/2015)

Clinton has been a private citizen since 2013, but it is standard procedure for high-ranking officials to keep their clearances after leaving office. However, McClatchy Newspapers comments, “While Clinton has kept her clearance, it’s common practice to suspend them while an investigation or internal inquiry is ongoing, according to some national security experts on Capitol Hill and in private practice.”

Bradley Moss, a lawyer who handles national security information, says, “If this were a normal employee, it would be entirely routine to temporarily suspend their access pending investigation.” (McClatchy Newspapers, 9/30/2015)